May 27, 2005
Allard Beutel
Headquarters, Washington
(Phone: 202/358-4769)
James Hartsfield
Johnson Space Center, Houston
(Phone: 281/483-5111)
STATUS REPORT: SS05-026
INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION STATUS REPORT: SS05-026
The Expedition 11 crew entered its seventh week in space today. The
crew wrapped up a week highlighted by research, maintenance and
training for photography tasks.
Commander Sergei Krikalev and Flight Engineer John Phillips spent
several days conducting examinations of each other. They used an
ultrasound device that provides data about the ability of the crew to
conduct detailed medical exams in space. The experiment could have
future applications for telemedicine or rural healthcare.
Phillips and Krikalev spent part of Tuesday practicing photography
with digital cameras in the Zvezda Service Module. They will capture
high resolution imagery of Discovery's heat shield, as the Shuttle
approaches for docking on the third day of the Return to Flight
mission (STS-114). The crew will use 400 and 800 millimeter lenses
from two windows in Zvezda to focus on Discovery's thermal protection
tiles and Reinforced Carbon-Carbon shield.
Discovery Commander Eileen Collins will fly Discovery through a back
flip as it approaches the Station, allowing the crew to document the
vehicle. They will shoot as many frames as possible during the
90-second flip. The images will be transmitted to the ground for
analysis.
For the second week, the crew activated solid-fuel oxygen-generating
canisters in Zvezda to replenish cabin atmosphere. The canisters are
one of multiple oxygen supplies available. They are being used
following the depletion of the oxygen in the tanks of the Progress
cargo spacecraft docked with the Station. The Station's Elektron
oxygen-generation system is inoperable. The next Progress to launch
to the Station in mid-June will carry new oxygen tanks, solid fuel
canisters and electronic components for the Elektron. Oxygen on board
and on upcoming cargo vehicles can accommodate the crew into next
year.
Earlier today, Krikalev tested the voltage of some of the Elektron's
existing components to help Russian specialists in their ongoing
troubleshooting efforts.
Krikalev confirmed the electrolyzer unit, part of a system that splits
water into hydrogen and oxygen, showed no voltage readings and is
presumed to have failed. Krikalev also worked on a procedure to
bypass one of the cables in the Russian segment condensate removal
system that has developed a blockage.
Phillips began working with the Fluid Merging Viscosity (FMVM)
experiment this week. This physical science experiment studies
viscosity, a property of fluids that causes them to resist flowing
because of the internal friction created as the molecules move
against each other. Understanding the viscosity of fluids is
important for everything from designing laboratory experiments to
industrial production of materials.
One way to determine viscosity is to measure how long it takes two
spheres of liquid to merge into a single spherical drop. Phillips
used honey with two different viscosities. He released multiple drops
of the honey from a syringe onto strings. Digital images of the drops
were recorded, as they joined to form one drop.
Researchers hope data from FMVM will provide insight into the behavior
of glasses; materials that may be used to fabricate parts or
equipment for long-term space missions and improve future materials
processing experiments done in space and on Earth.
The Expedition 11 crew is scheduled for a light-duty weekend,
including routine housekeeping tasks and family conferences.
http://www.nasa.gov/station
-end-